Chapter 78: The Higher You Rise, the Harder You Fall

"Yunfeng prefecture is just an inferior prefecture, it's normal that you have never heard of it," Zhou Donghuang said with a slight smile. Seeing the girl's reaction, he could see that she had never heard of Yunfeng prefecture.

"Inferior prefecture?" Hearing the young man's words, Yang Zixi was stunned, though her stunned expression was extremely adorable. Zhou Donghuang could not help but sneak another look at her.

"Yes," replied Zhou Donghuang as he nodded. "I left Yunfeng prefecture and only reached the Chu royal city after more than five months on the road."

He had left Yunfeng prefecture capital on April 1, 1229 of the Ziyun era. Now, it was already September 10, 1228 of the Ziyun era.

After five months... who knows how Mother and Xiao Lu are doing? As he thought of Lin Lan and Yun Lu, a gentle expression formed on Zhou Donghuang's face. As she watched on, Yang Zixi could not help but feel a tinge of jealousy. The young man before her had always been cold and aloof since she had met him, and he did not talk much. But now, such a tender expression had appeared on his usually emotionless face as he thought of whoever that was.

"Brother Zhou, are you thinking of... your wife?" Yang Zixi probed. But once the words left her mouth, she regretted it and even found it strange that she had asked such a question. Suddenly, she felt strangely awkward and looked down, unable to continue looking at the young man.

"Wife?" Zhou Donghuang was shocked at first, then shook his head. "Just now, I was thinking of my mother and my sister."

"Are they both in Yunfeng prefecture now?" Yang Zixi's eyes lit up as she realized that she had misunderstood him. But even she did not understand why she had felt jealous just now. Was it simply because the young man had not fawned over her like other men his age?

"Yea," Zhou Donghuang said with a nod. After chatting with Zhou Donghuang for a while, the young girl only left reluctantly when Fu returned. "Brother Zhou, I shouldn't disturb you. I'll take my leave."

Yang Zixi rarely spoke so much to people. Even she did not know why she had grown so affectionate of this young man after just a day... The young man seemed to have some natural charisma. What she did not know was that although Zhou Donghuang had the body of a young man, his memory stretched across millennia. In times like this, the charisma that he exuberated was simply nothing like those of his age. Zhou Donghuang's charisma and the typical aloofness that he displayed was extremely attractive to a young girl who had just begun her forays into the world of love.

"Sure," said Zhou Donghuang with a nod. As he watched the girl leave, he only looked away when her figure disappeared in the distance.

"Young Master." After the girl had left, Fu looked at Zhou Donghuang with a smile. "You... have fallen for Lady Zixi?"

"Nonsense!" Zhou Donghuang glared at Fu and asked, "Have you brought everything over from the inn?"

"Everything's here. Except for the carriage drawn by the three ferghana horses and the heavy black iron spear, there was nothing else to bring over." Fu nodded.

He continued with a smile, "Young Master, I think Lady Zixi is not bad... just now, the disciple who had brought me to the inn told me much about her. She is a good lady who knows to repay debts of gratitude. In some ways, she is even more worthy than the biological daughter of the Yang family chief. In this aspect, Chen Dandan, who betrayed Madam, can hardly compare." Although he had not personally experienced it, Fu knew of Chen Dandan. He knew that she had completely disregarded his Madam who had brought her up, and she had betrayed her cruelly.

"Chen Dandan?" As he was reminded of her, Zhou Donghuang's expression darkened, and his eyes glinted coldly. "She is not worthy of comparison to Zixi."

"Young Master, I still don't understand... when we went to Yunfeng prefecture capital, we could have gone to the Hong family and embarrassed her or even killed her! But you did not." Fu asked a question that had been bugging him for long.

"Embarrassing her, even killing her, would have been easy... but I do not intend to treat her like that in the Hong family or in Yunfeng prefecture." Zhou Donghuang's eyes flashed coldly again. "The higher you rise, the harder you fall! Now, I will let her rise higher... when she can no longer climb higher, I will make her fall! Then, it will feel more painful." As he spoke, Zhou Donghuang laughed evilly. Even Fu could not help but feel his hairs rise as he heard his laughter.

In his previous life, Zhou Donghuang had left Earth and returned to Ziyun planet to look for Chen Dandan... In the end, he had found out that Chen Dandan had not died of old age in Yunfeng prefecture capital of Yunyang country, but had died in the small sect called the "Valley of the Medicine Masters" that ruled over Yunyang country.

After some research, he then realized that Chen Dandan's biological father was the second elder of the Valley of Medicine Masters, Chen Tianhe. Chen Dandan was the illegitimate daughter of Chen Tianhe and had been sent to the inferior Yunfeng prefecture of the lower Yunyang country, where she was adopted by his mother, Lin Lan. Eventually, it was the preeminent Hong family of Yunfeng prefecture who sent her to the Valley of Medicine Masters and reunited her with her father.

"Settling it with her in the Valley of Medicine Masters would be better than doing it in Yunfeng prefecture." It was precisely because of this that Zhou Donghuang had not tried to find Chen Dandan in the Hong family when he had gone to Yunfeng prefecture capital. He planned to seek his revenge with Chen Dandan in the Valley of Medicine Masters.

"When Chen Dandan finally receives her status of daughter of the second elder of the Valley of Medicine Masters, she will be at her happiest. At that point, when I destroy everything she has and send her to the depths of despair, then I'll kill her... only then will my hatred be sated!"

That was Zhou Donghuang's plan. Otherwise, he would have gone directly to the Hong family when he went to Yunfeng prefecture capital, embarrass and then kill Chen Dandan.

"Chen Dandan, you should be thankful you have a biological father as the second elder of the Valley of Medicine Masters... if not, you would have been dead in Yunfeng prefecture capital!" Zhou Donghuang's eyes flashed with an evil glint as he laughed to himself.

...

The dawn of September 12, 1228 of the Ziyun era.

"Brother Zhou." Two days later, Yang Zixi came looking for Zhou Donghuang. "Second Elder has already prepared the needles you requested, and Head Elder has also gotten all the herbs. Can you begin treating my uncle today?" she asked, looking expectantly at Zhou Donghuang.

"Your two elders are quite efficient," said Zhou Donghuang with a laugh. "Let's go over together."

The previous day, Yang Zixi had also come to chat with him, and she even brought him on a tour of the Yang family household... In these two days, he had grown a fondness for this young girl who was both direct and had a sense of gratitude.

Soon, Zhou Donghuang and Yang Zixi arrived at the residence of the Yang family chief, Yang Yunji. In the small courtyard where Yang Yunji stayed, the Yang third master, Yang Yunchong, Head Elder Yang Ping and Second Elder Yang An had all gathered.

Shi Yu was there too.

In his chats with Yang Zixi over the last two days, she had mentioned Shi Yu, so Zhou Donghuang knew who he was. Shi Yu was the first young master of the tycoon Shi family of the Chu royal family. Although the Shi family was only considered the bottom of the tycoon families, they had a level-eight adept, which was incomparable with the Yang family. That was considered among the lowest grand families.

The reason why Shi Yu kept coming to the Yang family so faithfully was simply because of Yang Zixi. He wanted to marry her. In fact, he had asked for her hand from the Yang family chief a long time ago. Yang Yunji had been moved, but Yang Zixi had rejected him firmly, even threatening to commit suicide. Seeing this, Yang Yunji did not dare to press further and let things take their turn naturally.

From Yang Zixi, Zhou Donghuang had also learned that Shi Yu was a rich playboy. In the Chu royal city, many attractive-looking girls had been destroyed by his hands. More than a hundred young girls had chosen to kill themselves after he had toyed with their feelings.

On the planet of Ziyun, people were conservative, and a lady whose chastity had been violated would typically not be able to find a suitor unless she had a strong family backing. Hence, Yang Zixi had always hated Shi Yu but feared offending him in order not to implicate her family.

"Sister Zixi." Seeing Zhou Donghuang walk in together with Yang Zixi, Shi Yu glared coldly at Zhou Donghuang, but when he looked at Yang Zixi, he greeted her with a wide smile.

But Yang Zixi only glanced at him and ignored him. Shi Yu was already used to her indifference and did not take it to heart. But when his eyes turned to Zhou Donghuang again, he could not help but laugh as he gloated, "Lad, didn't expect you to really come back. I want to see for myself how you will treat a poison that even the medicine master poison expert couldn't treat!"

But, from the moment he entered, Zhou Donghuang did not even look at Shi Yu. Zhou Donghuang walked straight into the courtyard and asked Yang Yunchong and the rest, "Where are the needles?"

"Here." Yang An handed a box to Zhou Donghuang. As he opened it, Zhou Donghuang saw thirty-six two-inch golden needles neatly arranged inside. The needles were extremely thin, hardly thicker than a thread.

"Medicine Master Zhou, are these okay?" Yang Yunchong asked Zhou Donghuang worriedly. He only heaved a sigh of relief when Zhou Donghuang nodded.

"Besides Zixi, the rest please wait outside." As Zhou Donghuang carried the box into the room, Yang Yunchong and the rest were about to head in together, but Zhou Donghuang's voice rang from inside the room.

Immediately, Yang Yunchong, Yang Ping and Yang An stopped in their tracks.

"Lad, stop acting mysterious! I want to see for myself how you detoxify Chief Yang..." laughed Shi Yu, who had planned to go into the room with them.